


Seeing Ghosts

by Icka M Chif (mischif)



Category: ParaNorman (2012), Real Ghostbusters
Genre: Conversations, Friendship, Gen, Ghosts, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-05
Updated: 2012-10-05
Packaged: 2017-11-15 17:32:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/529815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mischif/pseuds/Icka%20M%20Chif
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Egon Spengler and Ray Stanz  investigate the aftermath of a possible Class 7 specter apperance in a sleepy little town called 'Blithe Hollow' when they run across a boy with an extrasensory gift.</p><p>Spoilers for 'ParaNorman'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seeing Ghosts

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place between chapters 2 and 3 of [A Better Normal](http://archiveofourown.org/works/518275), which means for once we're writing in chronological order. No spoilers. 
> 
> Allan Kardec wrote the [Spirits Book](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirits_Book) in 1857, the contents of which he claimed to have been given to him by a group of spirits. Hence the reference to the Kardec family.
> 
> Thanks to Ellen Brand for checking for RGB compliance. Going with her idea that the RGB never retired, they just kept on busting.

"You're not going to find her." 

Egon paused in his PKE scanning of the Blithe Hollow Town Square at the quiet voice. He turned around to find a pair of boys, just bordering on teenage hood standing on the sidewalk behind him, obviously just coming home from school. It appeared that the voice had come from the smaller of the pair, a boy in a red hoodie, his black hair sticking completely straight up in defiance of gravity. 

He was never going to understand modern fashion. 

Egon pushed his glasses higher on his face. "The Witch?" 

"She wasn't a _witch_." The larger one, with a mop of curly red hair, frowned. Egon half-expected the tone to be scornful, but it was merely defensive, bordering protective. "She was just a little girl, no older than us." 

"Interesting. We did not come across that information in our initial research." Egon commented, turning towards the boys. There hadn't been much data on the Blithe Hollow 'Witch' at all, aside from the fact she'd been hung, cursed the jury who killed her, a few pictures of ugly green crones, and had made a possible reappearance. The latter being which prompted he and Ray to borrow Winston's car to day trip to the Massachusetts town. 

The news reported it as a 'freak weather storm', but the damage shown was not indicative to any weather patterns any of the Ghostbusters had seen. The PKE readings, even a week later, were showing residue of what appeared to be a powerful Class Seven ghost, which would explain some of the scorch marks on a few of the buildings that didn't follow the normal pattern for fire. 

Although the rest of the wreckage seemed strange for a 'weather phenomenon'. 

Egon was also noticing that the town sported a higher than average level of ambient PKE energy. He wondered if that had anything to do with the recent appearance of Class Seven, or simply a mark of the town itself, with its tacky Witch-themed tourist trap air. 

The PKE Meter jumped, spiking as he pointed it at the boys. One of Egon's eyebrows rose as he adjusted the readings. The energy was similar to the readings that all the Ghostbusters had from decades of repeated near-daily exposure to ectoplasm. 

"Salma did a paper on it." The red-head nodded, a serious look on his face. "Lotsa people were killed back then, not just her." 

Egon crouched down, pointing the PKE Meter at first the large boy, then the smaller one. Both boys had abnormally high levels of PKE, but it lit up like mad when pointed at the smaller boy with the spiky hair. The smaller boy wasn't looking at Egon or the meter, but rather at something slightly above Egon's head. As if he could see something there that no one else was aware of. 

"Fascinating. The iris of your eyes are nearly octagonal in appearance." Egon noted, studying at the boy's face. It was subtle, but the blue iris of his eyes were clearly not circular, but slightly jagged looking around the edges. "Any relation to the Prenderghast or Kardec families?" 

The boy gave a small gasp, eyes snapping to look at Egon, wide and horrified. "I merely inquire because both families carry the rare genetic ability to see beyond the veil and communicate directly with ghosts." Egon attempted to assure the boy. "Such a predisposition would be considered greatly beneficial in our particular field of paranormal science-" 

"You're not taking him away to experiment on him!" The red-head shoved the smaller boy behind him, stepping between the blue-eyed boy and Egon, fists clenched as if ready to take Egon on in a physical confrontation if need be, regardless of their size difference. The PKE Meter let out a warning beep, levels spiking, but still within human parameters. 

Egon wished he had Peter with him right then. Peter would know the right things to say to soothe the children, while all Egon could do was flounder and make things worse. 

"What Egon was trying to say is that there are times we've wished we could talk to Ghosts too." Ray said, coming to Egon's rescue. Egon gave a small sigh of relief at Ray's assistance, shooting his friend a grateful look. "It'd make our whole lives, not to mention our jobs much easier." Ray said with a friendly smile.

The spiky haired boy gave them a suspicious look "You.. You're not afraid of them?" He ventured, voice wavering slightly.

Egon smirked. "As our friend and associate Peter is quite fond of saying in the vernacular, 'We ain't afraid of no ghosts'." 

"And what is it exactly that you do?" The red-head glared at them in challenge. 

Ray reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a business card, offering it to the red-head. The larger boy took it, staring at it with a frown, his lips moving for a moment before passing the card back to his friend, giving the two men a defiant look. 

"You're the Ghostbusters?!" The boy said, quiet voice surprised. The larger boy's eyes went wide in surprise, then narrowed back down in suspicion. “... I thought you were another reporter.” He added softly. 

"Affirmative." Egon agreed. It was one of the problems with travelling outside of New York, they weren't known on sight like they were in their home area. It didn't help that they hadn't brought their full gear, and were dressed in civilian clothing instead of their distinctive jumpsuits. 

The red-head wrinkled his nose. “So doesn't that mean that you... _hunt_ ghosts?” He asked suspiciously. “And trap them, or something?”

“Only the ones who try to hurt people.” Ray assured the kids. 

“It is far more preferable to find a peaceful way of resolution.” Egon agreed. “The majority of our time is spent attempting to learn and understand the non corporeal beings that exist alongside our own reality.” 

"I'm Ray, and this is Egon by the way." Ray did the introductions with an easy smile. "What Egon’s saying is that 'Busting aside, we _like_ Ghosts. They're the whole reason we got into Parapsychology in the first place."

The red-head's face scrunched up. "Para-what?"

"Parapsychology, the investigation of purportedly paranormal psychological phenomena." Egon explained. "Such as telepathy, telekinesis or clairvoyance." 

The red-head stared at them for a moment, a confused look on his face before shaking his head. "Norman can't do any of that stuff." The red-head shrugged, PKE levels dropping as he relaxed. "He just talks to the dead." 

From behind him there was a loud smacking sound as the small boy, Norman's, palm quickly met his face. "Thanks, Neil." He mumbled. 

The large boy, Neil, threw his friend a bright guileless grin. 

"Cool!" Ray exclaimed, bouncing gleefully. "Can you see them too, or is it just auditory?" 

Norman's gaze flickered back and forth between Ray and Egon with a wild incredulous look, as if he'd been expecting accusations. ".... I can see them too." He said cautiously. 

"Aw, man. Lucky! We can't do that without these." Ray reached down and pulled his Ecto Goggles from his belt, flicking them on and holding it out for them to take. "Take a look." He offered. Egon rocked back on his heels, content to watch and let Ray develop a rapport with the children. 

The boys exchanged a look, then Norman reached forward, carefully taking them in both hands and putting them to his eyes. The straps made his hair tilt at strange angles, and Egon noticed that there seemed to be a lack of product in his hair. A secondary effect to being able to see ghosts?

Norman made a confused sound, lifting the goggles from his eyes and looking around before taking a second look. With a frown, Norman passed them to Neil, who put them on and made a noise of pure delight. 

"Is this what you see all the time?!" Neil exclaimed, scanning the area with bouncing broad grin that reminded Egon of Ray when they had first met. Full of endless cheer and enthusiasm, no matter what the odds. 

"Kind of." Norman shrugged a narrow shoulder, mumbling slightly. "That actually kinda acted like a filter, I couldn't see as many as I usually do.” 

"You can see more than these?" Neil exclaimed, staring at the world around him in awe. 

“Um. Yeah.” Norman’s gaze flickered at Ray and Egon, no, above their heads, before darting down to the ground again. He waved a hand in a circular motion. “There’s no orbs.” 

“Orbs?” Ray glanced at Egon, a mixture of confused and excited. 

“There’s a bunch floating around each of your heads.” Norman added. “About a dozen. Normally the ghosts who have been around a while and the cemetery have them, but you’re human-?” The sentence ended on more of a shy question than a statement. 

“We are.” Egon verified. Older ghosts generally had a stronger reading, and depending on the cemetery, they were either sterile, or an ectoplasmic hot spot. 

“Do you know what they are?” Ray asked, eager as a puppy. 

“Spirit Orbs.” Norman shrugged shoulder again. “Grandma says that they’re other spirits that haven’t reformed to look like they did when they were living yet. Kind of like 'baby ghosts', I guess.” 

“Class One!” Ray bounced, already theorising. “Or even Class Oh-Point-Five! And you can see them?” 

Norman warily nodded. 

Egon’s eyebrow rose again. The child could see spirits at a level they didn't have equipment sensitive enough for yet. Granted, they usually dealt with the other end of the Classification Scale, Three or higher, but there was still a lot about ghosts they still didn't know.

“How much do you want to bet they hang around the larger, more powerful ghosts for protection and nourishment? Feeding off the radiant ectoplasmic energy the larger entities and natural sources like the graveyard give off until they can reform?" Ray bounced. 

"The stronger the ectoplasmic source, the more 'Orbs' they posses?" Egon verified. The ability to be able to merely _look_ at a ghost and tell how powerful it was by how many Orbs lingered around their heads could be extremely useful, especially if something was jamming the signals on their PKE Meters. 

Norman nodded, then paused and shrugged. "When Aggie woke up, she scared all the ghosts into the forest." He said slowly. "There weren't any ghosts at all in the entire town."

'Aggie'? Who was Aggie? 

"I was wondering why you didn't try asking any ghosts for directions." Neil commented, turning to his friend. "That would have been real useful in the Town Hall." 

"Yeah." Norman agreed, giving Neil a weak smile. 

"Most of the spectres in town that we can get a read on are Class One and a few Class Two." Egon adjusted his glasses. "A Class Seven appearing would be akin to throwing a shark in a minnow tank." 

Norman looked faintly ill. "They can eat each other?!" 

"Some." Egon nodded. "Not at the level that you are seeing around town however." They'd have to be higher on the classification scale, and visible to the naked human eye. 

.... Average human eye. 

"Good." Norman gave him a relieved smile. "They're really nice, nicer than most living people." He added, shooting Neil a small smile, marking what was obviously an exception. "A lot of them are people who still have stuff they wanted to do, like return a forgotten library book, or they died suddenly and haven't realised they're dead. They're friendly." He shrugged. 

"Library book?" Ray echoed with some amusement. 

Norman gave him a dry smile. "'Get Rich Knitting'." 

Ray laughed, making Egon smile. 

"They just kinda seem to be going about their business." Neil commented, looking around through the goggles. "Wandering around."

"Usually." Norman nodded. "If I talk to one, more will flock closer though. Mostly just to say 'Hi'. Sometimes I can help them pass on though."

"That's when they turn all sparkly and vanish?" Neil asked excitedly, taking the goggles down. "Like the zombies?" 

"Zombies?" Egon's eyebrows rose. Ray shot him an excited look. 

A frown flickered across Norman's face. "They don't like the 'Z' word." He said slowly. 

"You can speak to them too?" Ray inquired. "Past the ' _aruugh... arrrrgh.... ouugaah_ ' noises?" 

"Yeah." Norman shrugged again, tugging on his backpack, curling himself in again. "... Anything that's dead, apparently." He added in a mumble. 

Ray and Egon shared a look. Both of them, Egon especially, were intimately familiar with how difficult it could be growing up while being different.

"There's a coffee shop over there." Ray said kindly, motioning to a place nearby called 'The Cauldron Café' with tables sitting out in front. "Maybe we can get something to drink, and you can tell us about happened? With.... 'Aggie'?"

The last part was obviously a guess, but it got a reaction. Neil pushed the goggles high on his head, looking at Norman, who was looking at his feet with a scowling expression. Finally Norman looked up, a serious expression on his face. "You said that you try to find peaceful ways of dealing with Ghosts instead of 'busting' them?" 

"Yes." Ray agreed. "Always." 

Norman stared at Ray for a moment, then looked at Egon, giving him an equally intense scrutiny. 

"Alright." Norman agreed, pointing a short distance from them, with a good view of the damaged Town Hall. "There's a picnic table over there. That way you can see where some of the big stuff happened." Norman added helpfully. 

Not only did the picnic table have a full view of the entire Town Square, but it was in full view _of_ the entire Town Square. 

Egon exchanged a look with Ray, both of them dryly amused. Smart boy. In case Ray and Egon were not what they seemed, the boys had many clear escape paths, and were within shouting distance for help. 

"Alright." Egon agreed, rising to his feet, his legs feeling slightly stiff. He wasn't as young as he used to be. None of the Ghostbusters were. 

Yet they wouldn't trade what they did for anything. 

Norman pulled out a mobile phone, concentrating as he texted someone, then nudged Neil to do the same, showing the message he was sending. Comprehension flashed across Neil's face and he pulled out his phone as well, texting someone. 

"Letting our parents know we'll be late." Norman said, flashing them the text he sent. Egon could only get a glimpse, but it appeared that Norman was merely mentioning that he was hanging out with Neil, no mention of what they were doing at all. 

"We could give you a ride back and make your excuses if you want." Ray offered.

"Thanks, but no." Norman shook his head with a slight grimace as he looked down at the ground. "My parents believe me now, but they're are still a little twitchy about the whole ghosts thing." 

"Believe you now? Have you always been able to see ghosts?" Ray inquired as he and Egon sat down on the far bench. 

"Yeah." Norman nodded, climbing up and setting his backpack down next to him. It had a skull patch on it, Egon noticed with amusement. "But I didn't talk about it until last year, when Grandma died. After that..." He shrugged. "I just decided to be myself. Ghosts and all."

"People thought he was making stuff up for attention." Neil admitted with a frown. "Not me! -But the rest of the town." 

"No." Norman smiled softly, giving his friend a fond look. "Not you." 

Neil beamed, his grin bright and wide, reminding Egon of Ray once again. Neil paused, taking the goggles off and putting them on the table, pushing them back towards Ray. Ray nodded in thanks, putting the goggles on his head. 

"Do you mind if we record this?" Ray asked, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone, which had a recorder on it. "For Winston and Peter to listen to later?" 

Norman shrugged, as if it didn't matter one way or another. "Just don't leak it to the papers." He commented dryly. 

"Believe me, the media is no friend of ours." Egon muttered, setting the PKE Meter on the table, pressing a few buttons to record Norman's energy levels. The media was a fickle entity. Building them up and hailing them as heroes one day, only to turn around and drag their names through the mud when news got slow, only to reverse the trend when they saved Manhattan again. Egon could do without it their roller coaster ride.

Norman took a deep breath and began. About Agatha Prenderghast, little Aggie, who had been 11 years old when the townsfolk caught her talking with ghosts, and in their fear, sentenced her to death. Her curse, that the seven people who killed her would find no rest. How someone had started reading her favourite bedtime story, a book of fairy tales to her on the anniversary of her death, keeping her sleeping. 

How for the week leading up to it, he'd had visions of horrible things happening before his Great Uncle Prenderghast had passed that duty on to Norman after he died, the job of keeping her sleeping. That Norman had failed, he didn't know where Aggie's grave was, and she had awoken, bringing the dead back to life to roam the earth. How Neil, Neil's brother, and Norman's big sister had saved Norman and the local bully, fleeing to the Town Hall to find the records of where her grave was. 

Neil, who had been listening with a curious expression, frowned as Norman talked about the others leaving the Hall of Records, shifting until their shoulders brushed. Norman looked confused but pleased by the contact, leaning slightly towards Neil, as if uncertain that it was the correct action to make. 

Neil just smiled at him and took over the thread of conversation, his brother Mitch carrying him out, them trying to leave, but being blocked by the mob outside, who tried to rip them apart and burn the place down with a flaming teddy bear. 

There was something slightly disquieting to hear Neil's cheerful matter-of-fact tone as he talked about their own neighbours attempting to kill them. Egon shared a glance with Ray, whose face echoed Egon's own discomfort.

Norman began speaking again, his attempt to read the story out loud on the bell-tower, how he'd been struck by lightning, falling through the rooftop and ending up back in the Hall of Records, with another vision of everything that happened. Confronting Judge Hooper and the other remorseful jury members, who were tired and sad after 300 years of paying for killing a small girl out of fear. 

They'd killed a lot of other people too, Norman had added. But no one really remembered them. Just the one who'd ended it by taking them with her. 

Neil reached into his lunch box, pulling out a bottle of juice and passing it to Norman, who took it with a quiet nod, opening it and taking a sip. Neil explained Norman appearing in the burning building, the dead guys trailing after him, and Norman trying to talk sense to the mob, and how it was Norman's sister who got people to stop. All of them, Norman, Neil, Mitch, Courtney and Alvin holding hands, protecting the not-zombies as Norman talked and got people to listen. 

Neil's story ended there, mostly they just sat around and kept an eye on the dead jury while Norman borrowed the car. The mob broke up, their stories slowly morphing and changing, Neil got bored and read a book, then eventually Norman reappeared. 

Norman picked up the thread again, explaining the awkward drive to Knob Hill, the Undead Judge directing them which way to go, then everyone getting out of the car to walk through the forest, the trees growing spikes and separating them. 

Ray made an excited noise at that, the physical manipulation of the environment. 

His mad dash through the forest, seeing her made of lighting and blurring in her rage. Talking to her, trying to get through to her and finally telling her a story, _her_ story, and getting through to her. Finally reaching her and blacking out, to wake up in a forest and getting to meet the real Aggie. The little girl who was tired, hurt, and missed her Mommy. 

Her falling asleep next to him, breathing out one last time before fading away, dissolving into glowing sparkles. 

After that, it was just finding his family and watching the Judge's body disappear, leaving his ghost, looking like he had when he'd been alive before disappearing as well. Returning to the town centre, and finding Neil as everything was swept under the rug as a 'freak weather storm'. 

Norman didn't seem to mind or care about that, looking kind of tired as he leaned against his friend. "Sorry." Norman apologised as he rubbed his face, the shadows under his eyes more pronounced than they'd been earlier. The PKE Meter was showing an increase in background PKE, but lower biometrics. Their story had probably gained a ghostly audience. "That's the first time I've told anybody what happened." 

"First time I heard everything." Neil agreed, although he didn't seem to be put off by it. The correlations between Norman and Aggie were obvious, as well as what made a difference. Most notably the person sitting next to Norman, propping him up, much in the same way Peter, Ray, Winston, and Janine helped Egon, by being there for him. 

"Thank you." Egon said, surprised to find his voice kind of low and rough. The boys had been very brave, braver than many adults he knew. 

"Welcome." Norman gave them a small smile, which faded as his gaze looked up at the sky, which had turned golden as dusk approached. "We'd better get home, dinner'll be ready soon."

"Wait a second, if you could." Ray held up a hand, quickly climbing over the bench to trot off to the car. The three of them watched him leave, exchanging curious looks. Ray unlocked the back door, rummaging around for a minute before coming back, minus the Ecto Goggles and carrying something small in his hands. 

"Here." He held a thick battered paperback book out for Norman to take. "It's a copy of Tobin's Spirit Guide. It's got listings of various ghosts, demons, and spirits, along with the best ways to deal with them, should they become a problem. Think of it as a Bird Watching guide to Ghosts."

"Thank you." Norman took it, thumbing through it with a look of wonder on his face. Egon wondered how many specters in the book Norman might have seen and not realised what they were, or if his abilities were limited to the less powerful ghosts. 

Neil looked over his shoulder, wide eyed in curiosity. "Sweet! It's got pictures in it!" He cheered, earning an amused huff from his friend. 

"There are some other books that might be helpful too, 'Spengler's Spirit Guide', which is an updated Tobin's, the 'Spates Catalog of Nameless Horrors' or a recent edition of 'Who's Who and What's That', but I don't have any spare copies with me." Ray added with an apologetic shrug. "It can be kind of tricky to find good resources on the paranormal."

"Understatement." Egon snorted. The Ghostbusters tended to be the definitive resource on the paranormal. And even then, they were mostly making stuff up on the fly and hoping it worked. 

"I think I gave you one of our business cards already-" Ray added, pulling another card out of his shirt pocket and Norman nodded. "-so here's one for Neil, just in case you run across something and have any questions."

"Just tell Janine, our secretary, that you're from Blithe Hollow and looking for either Dr. Spengler or Dr. Stanz." Egon seconded the idea. He made mental note to inform Janine of such. There were a lot of crackpots out there, looking to scam people with ghosts, but there was a short list of genuine paranormal experts out there, and it never hurt to stay in touch. "Although I have the feeling that you're doing just fine on your own." He added with a smile. 

"Agreed." Ray gave them a wide, proud grin. "-Or if you make it to New York, we'd love it if you get a chance to stop by. You can meet Slimer, our resident ghost! He's very friendly, and loves people. Everyone can see him too."

"Really?!" Neil's face split into a wide grin as he took the card, holding it in his hands. "Awesome!" 

"Although it might be a prudent idea to bring a secondary set of clothing when you do." Egon added, pushing his glasses up. "He tends to live up to his name."

Neil, if anything, looked even more excited at the prospect. Norman just looked amused at his friend. 

"And this-" Ray reached into his back pocket, pulling out a different business card and handing it to Norman. "-Is my personal card. I run a rare book store. Just ask for me, Ray Stanz." 

Norman looked at the card, then over at Neil. "Salma." He deadpanned.

"Salma." Neil agreed. 

"Salma?" Ray echoed, confused. 

"Our friend." Norman said, as if the words were something precious and novel for him. "She loves research." 

" _Looooooves_ it. She wrote an article about Aggie and the Witch Hunts that's in the Blithe Hollow Bugle." Neil bounced enthusiastically, using the momentum to slide off the bench, taking his backpack and lunchbox with him. "You can read it online."

"We will." Egon said, making a mental note to look up the newspaper once they got home. Or possibly on their way back to New York, if the newspaper had a searchable mobile site accessible by phone.

Norman nodded at them, grabbing his backpack and following Neil. "It was nice meeting you." He said politely. "And thank you for listening." 

"Nice meeting you too!" Ray beamed as he waved. "And anytime! Get home safe!" 

"You too!" Neil waved back, his whole body in on the motion. Norman also waved, but it was smaller, a wiggling of fingers. 

Egon stayed where he was until the boys were out of eyesight, the PKE Meter winding down now that it was just the ambient energy. Ray let out a soft sigh next to him. "Good kids." 

"Yeah." Egon nodded, turning off the PKE Meter. He would have loved to run some experiments, a CAT scan or an MRI at the very least, to learn how Norman's abilities worked, but this was not the opportunity for that. Although he had gotten some very interesting readings and information that would most likely keep him busy for a while.

And he'd need to get with both Ray and Winston to see they could adjust the sensitivity of the Ecto Goggles to pick up the Orbs. 

"Anything else you want to look at while we're here?" Ray asked, glancing around the town with its tacky tourist trap decor. Trying to make money off of a series of senseless killings 300 years prior. Egon shook his head. 

"No." He said, unfolding his legs and rising from the bench. They still had a four and a half hour car trip back home to look forward to before they could rest. 

Egon looked up at the scorch marks on the top of the Town Hall records, and the burnt marks from the people who lived in this town, nearly repeating the same mistakes as their predecessors. "I think I'm good." He muttered, a dark taste in his mouth. 

His own ancestor, Eli Spengler, had become the hero of Lewiston by imprisoning the deamoness Kestrel and her Goblins in rock salt crystal a few decades prior to Aggie being hung for witchcraft. He wondered if the two incidents were related, Lewiston being not terribly far away. If Kestrel hadn't attacked, would the Witch Hunt fever have spread to Blithe Hollow, killing Agatha Prenderghast? 

There was no definitive way to be certain. 

"Come on." Ray patted Egon on the shoulder, giving him a bright smile, just a little worn around the edges in sympathy as he gave Egon a subtle push towards the car. "We'll get something to eat on the way home." 

"Thank you." Egon shot him a grateful look. Ray opened the car, getting in the driver's seat, and starting up the car. They both were silent as they pulled away, each lost in their own thoughts as they drove through the narrow roads of Blithe Hollow. 

They passed by Neil and Norman on the way, Neil bouncing and waving his arms as he talked, Norman walking along side with a small fond smile on his face. Ray's smile grew genuine as they passed, also noticing the boys. "Hope for the future." He commented, signalling to get on the highway. 

Egon snorted, adjusting his glasses to hide a smile. 

Perhaps.

-fin-


End file.
